


Guardians of Jack

by gottabekiddinme



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, WHERE WERE YOU FOR THREE HUNDRED YEARS???, friendship/family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-23 05:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/922294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gottabekiddinme/pseuds/gottabekiddinme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Jamie wasn't Jack's first Believer? And who says you have to stop believing once you're grown up?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guardians of Jack

**Author's Note:**

> I finally watched Rise of the Guardians, and feeeeeeeeels! So I did a thing.

_Many years ago_

  
She spun, arms out and head thrown back, tongue out to catch as much snow as possible. She heard laughter – a boy’s laughter – and stopped, swaying a little from dizziness.

“Hello?”

  
Nothing. She looked around again, and finally she saw him. A boy, a teenager, leaning on a staff beside a tree. She smiled and waved. “Hello!”

  
He blinked. “You can see me?”

  
“Of course I can.” She frowned at him. “Why shouldn’t I?”

  
He shrugged. “Nobody else can.”

  
“Are you a ghost?”

  
“I…” He tilted his head. “I don’t know.”

  
She blinked. How could he not know? “If nobody can see you,” She took a step forward. “Aren’t you lonely?”

  
He didn’t answer, just smiled at her.

  
“What’s your name?”

  
“I…Jack. Jack Frost.”

  
”Want to have a snowball fight?”

 

_Three hundred years later_

  
It was far too late at night for the children to be out, so why could she hear them? Sarah put down her book and looked out the window just in time to see Jamie Bennet fly by.

  
Wait. Fly? She looked again. Yes, there he was, along with, of all people –

  
“Jack!” Her old friend didn’t look back, so she pulled on her jacket and boots and called her mother on her way out the door. “Mom. Meet me at the second stoplight on Main- I just saw Jack!”

  
It wasn’t hard to find them. They just followed the ice. And there they were, half of Sarah’s students, Jack, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny…

  
And the Boogeyman.

  
“You’ll protect them? And who will protect you?”

  
Before Sarah and her mother stepped forward, Jamie did. And Cupcake. And all the other children. The last of them said “I’ll try” just as Sarah reached the group.

  
“If you want to lay a finger on any of them, any of these kids, or Jack” She turned to the Boogeyman. “You’ll have to go through me first.”

  
“Us, actually.” Her mother came up beside her.

  
There was a moment of stunned silence, of everyone processing the presence of two adults. Then the Boogeyman shook it off. “Still think there’s no such thing as the Boogeyman?”

  
They were all thinking it, but it was Jamie that said it. “I do believe in you. I’m just not afraid of you.” Sarah had never been prouder of anyone. And when his touch turned the black sand to gold…well then it was like watching all of her childhood dreams come true.

  
Of course it ended in a snowball fight. With Jack involved, how could it not? But she was watching the immortals, and when Santa Claus said it was time to go she told them, “No.”

  
They all turned to stare at her. “What? Why not?”

  
“I actually wouldn’t object to staying a while” The Easter Bunny was looking at her oddly. “I’d like to know how an adult can see us.”

  
Sarah raised an eyebrow. “My house, in ten minutes. You know where I live, Jack.”

  
Once they were all bundled into her kitchen she nodded to her mother, who pulled Jack into the living room for “a nice long visit”, leaving Sarah to give the shovel talk.

  
“What’s this about?”

  
“Er, pretty sure you saw Pitch yourself, mate.”

  
“Not that. Why, after three hundred years, have you finally acknowledged Jack’s existence?”

  
“Oh. Well –“

  
“You do not know what we are –“

  
She interrupted Santa Claus. “I do know what you are. The Guardians of Childhood.” She snorted. “I must say I don’t think you’re very good at your jobs.”

  
That got a reaction. The Bunny bristled and the Tooth Fairy ruffled her feathers, while Santa spluttered. Only the Sandman remained calm.

  
“Has it escaped your attention,” She was using her best Teacher voice. “That Jack is himself a child?”

  
That shut them up.

  
“He’s been a child for three hundred years. And in all that time, the only people who have ever so much as talked to him have been my mother’s family.”

  
“And how is that? How have you all been able to see him?” The Bunny was giving her that odd look again.

  
She shrugged. “He met the first one not long after he woke up. They were friends, so she never stopped believing. She told her daughter about him, and she told hers, and so on. Jack’s family, always has been. My family. Which is why I don’t trust you with him.”

  
“Now wait just a –“

  
“Who do you think he came to after Easter ’68?”

  
Bunny pulled his ears back and slumped.

  
“He came to my mother. Who told me about it. Now you,” She nodded at Tooth. “I can understand, since he doesn’t lose teeth. And you, Sandman, I guess you’re all right. But you.” She turned to Santa. “He’s a winter spirit. And yours is a winter holiday. You could at least have said hello. But you never did. So why now?”

  
Santa shrugged, shamefaced. “Man in Moon. He called Jack to be a Guardian.”

  
“The Man in the Moon. Who never said anything to him but his name. Great.” She shook her head. “I have to wonder about his management skills.” She looked up at the four Guardians. “You’ve been so busy worrying about all the children in the world that you never noticed the one child who needed you most. He has been alone, lost, scared, all the things a child should never be. And the people that took care of him were never you. It’s been me and my mother and my grandmother, we have been Jack’s Guardians. And I don’t think you’re up to the job.”

  
“Sarah.”

  
She turned to see Jack smiling at her from the doorway. “I appreciate it, really I do, but it’s okay.”

  
”We really should go.” Santa put in.

  
“Go where? Jack, your home is here, always has been.”

  
“I was going to offer him a room at the Pole.”

  
“Actually, she’s right.” Jack grinned. “I’ve always lived in Burgess – since before it even was Burgess. I have a cave by the pond. Or maybe I’ll try somewhere else. Alaska, maybe? Antarctica?”

  
“Wherever you go, Jack, I’m coming too.” Sarah grinned back. “So please don’t choose Antarctica.”

  
“You will at least come visit during the summers, yes?”

  
“Of course. Can’t get rid of me that easy. Besides, I owe Rudolph an apple.”

  
“A cave, hm?” Bunny shrugged. “Well since Easter’s over, if you need help fixing it up or anything –“

  
“It’s fine.”

  
“Cozy, really.” Sarah was still eyeing Bunny warily.

  
“We should have monthly meetings.” Tooth said suddenly. “And rotate between all our homes.”

  
“To keep in touch!” Santa agreed. “But look, it is almost dawn. And we really should go. The four of us, at least. You are sure you don’t want to come?

  
“Nah.” Jack leaned on his staff. “I’ll see you at the next meeting.”

  
The Sandman formed several symbols above his head which apparently translated to “My place next month”. Or possibly “I really need a vacation”.

  
“Yeah, see you then. And don’t forget to visit some actual kids every once in a while?”

  
Sarah waited until the other Guardians had left before pulling out a can of cocoa and starting to heat up some milk. Her mother came into the room and sat at the table, waiting for Jack to sit down. “Now then,” The older woman looked at Jack expectantly. “Tell us everything.”


End file.
